Marshmallow snowmen

The kids made these snowmen on our first real snowy day - the day before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving: almost time to dig in!

If it looks like wall to wall food - that's because it was! We had a wonderful meal together and loved every bite! After the meal, at David's suggestion - we each said one thing we were especially thankful for this year. Dade's job was high on the list, as well as living in Maine, family and friends, our home, "42" (that was Adam's - he said it's the meaning of life and the universe), winning the Revolutionary war, Christopher Columbus, and cookies (Ethan's choice). Anyway, it was all great and we are still working on the delicious leftovers. Only 18 pies this year! I think next year on our mission Dad and I will just have pumpkin pie and I will declare the end of personally making so many pies . . . that will probably only last untill we get off our mission! :)

Sue is making a corn chowder and biscuits and Dade just took a chocolate cake out of the oven. It smells heavenly on this fast Sunday (due to our stake conference next weekend). We had a new family of 5 attended church today - the missionaries were so happy - and the family stayed for all 3 hours. They live in Corinth - the elders have been meeting with them for about 2 months. Dad and I met with President Page after meetings today - made some progress on our mission papers. He asked if we'd be willing to go before Christmas and we said we would - we'll see how long the process takes. We may meet with Prsident Hassell next weekend.

Hi everyone - It's a rainy Saturday - Susannah is studying - Dade is reading the newspaper - Laura is making a mask for one of the missionary Elders - Ethan is running around enjoying the sound of his bare feet slapping the bare floor in the kitchen and dining room - the boys are downstairs playing video games - and Jessica is doing some crayon art at the table with Grampy, who is trying to study his scriptures. I made "Nutritious Muffins" for our breakfast this morning - that's the actual name of the recipe - one of my very favorite muffins. Of course - I tripled it like we always do around here nowadays - and there are only 4 or 5 left - so good reviews from the kids. Nutritious Muffins ¾ c. whole wheat flour ¾ c. oat bran ½ c. brown sugar 1 t. baking powder ½ t. baking soda 1 t. cinnamon 1/3 c. mashed banana ½ c. plain yogurt 1 egg 2 t. oil 1 t. vanilla ½ c. shredded carrot ½ c. dates or raisins ½ c. chopped walnuts Mix dry ingredients. Mix liquid ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine and sir until combined. Fold in carrots, raisins, and walnuts. Bake in greased muffin tin at 400 for 18-20 minutes. Makes 10-12 muffins YUM!

This is our breakfast schedule which we stick to most of the time:

Sunday - Dry Cereal, Monday - Pancakes or Waffles, Tuesday - Baked Oatmeal, Wednesday - Dry Cereal, Thursday - Eggs & Toast, Friday - Maypo, and Saturday - Muffins & Fruit/Juice or Smoothies. It's kinda fun to have the variety. I get up around 5AM to get the ball rolling in the kitchen and the cooking aroma gets everyone up in a good mood! :)

Brigham and Adam helped at the school with a Spook Alley activity last night and the rest of us played "Apples to Apples" and watched "Song of the South". Susannah made pizzas. First time for me playing the game - I liked it alot. Do you? Of course it can never replace Scrabble as my all time favorite - but it was very fun.

Gram is at the Temple today (Stake bus trip). Dad and I have been asked to speak at Saturday session of Stake Conference next weekend and we go to the Temple Thursday and Friday this week. Life is busy and good. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Here are all the kids but Ethan (who was in his highchair out of camera range) on Jessica's 13th birthday.

Above is Gram performing at the Sloat Reunion on August 25. And this is Ethan and Aunt Alice at Dow Reunion on August 18th - the youngest and the oldest!

Katie (and Rheanna) - I posted on June 11th - it hasn't even been 3 months yet! j/k I'm hoping I will enjoy doing it more now that we have DSL (as of yesterday). So here goes. Life is very different here at home now that there are 12 of us around the dinnertable every night - but we are settling into a pretty good routine now that school is underway. Here's one of the the schoolkids on their 1st day.